Separable depth selection drive train



q p @MM AW f W F INVENTOR Everett W. Farmer May 10, 1966 E. w. FARMERSEPARABLE DEPTH SELECTION DRIVE TRAIN Filed March 26, 1964 United StatesPatent 3,251,024 SEPARABLE DEPTH SELECTION DRIVE TRAIN Everett W.Farmer, Reeds Ferry, N.H., assignor to Sanders Associates, Inc., Nashua,N.H., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 26, 1964, Ser. No. 354,942 11Claims. (Cl. 340-2) This invention relates to a positive actionseparable drive train.

More specifically, this invention relates to a separable drive train forthe depth selection mechanism of a sphere shaped sonobuoy. The trend inelectronic packaging has advanced to the point where electronic gear forunderwater surveys is now housed in small diameter sphere shapedhousings. The sphere shaped housings permit the sonobuoys to be storedin a minimum of space and because of the spherical shape, the buoys havethe added ability to be easily rolled from storage racks within theaircraft that carry them, to launching ports in the aircraft prior tolaunch. The need to vmaintain a smooth outer spherical surface whileproviding ready access to the buoys contents is therefore essential tothe maintenance of automatic loading and launching capabilities.

These advanced designed sphere shaped sonobuoys must be serviceableprior to launching while simultaneously maintaining the capability ofefiiciency releasing their contents upon water impact. The hydrophonesreleased by the buoys are lowered to varying depths depending on apredetermined setting made externally of the buoys prior to launching.Accordingly, a portion of the spherical housing serves the multiplefunction of providing a cap to house the sonobuoys antenna while alsobeing manually ,turnable to set an internally housed hydrophone depthselection mechanism. It is required of the drive train thatinterconnects the cap with the depth selection mechanism that the drivetrain while being positive acting, also be instantly separable uponwater impact. Also the buoy must be easily dismantled for the adjustmentof the buoys electronics prior to launch. All of these capabilities arepresent in the invention to be described hereafter. The aforementionedcapabilities have all been accomplished with a .minimum of complexmechanisms which result in a new level of simplicity and sophisticationheretofore unknown in the art. Another type drive train for a sonobuoyis :shown in a copending application of Proctor et al., filed lMarch 26,1964, Serial No. 354,943.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple andefli'cient positive action separable drive train.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sonobuoy depthselection drive train having the capabilities of maintaining a positivedriving linkage until water impact .where the drive train automaticallyseparates.

Another object of this invention is to provide a compact sonobuoy drivetrain that maybe easily assembled .and disassembled without permanentlydisturbing the spherical integrity of the sonobuoy.

For a better understanding of the present invention together with otherand further objects thereof, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

" .In the drawings? v FIG. 1 is a three dimensional cutaway section of aI spherical sonobuoy embodying the invention;

'FIG.'1a is a schematic showing of a sonobuoy embodying the invention inan ocean environment;

bodying the invention in a separated or released condi- IIOIL Referenceis now made to FIG. 1 where there is illustrated a portion of aspherical sonobuoy 11 which has depicted a portion of the sonobuoys 11upper shell 12. At the top of the upper shell 12 is an upper surface 13which has mounted thereon an antenna erection spring 41 with its relatedcoiled antenna 42, the function of which will 'be described more fullyhereafter.

On the upper surface, there is also a test jack 43 which may be utilizedto test the sonobuoys electronic componentstnot shown in the drawings)which are housed within the spherical sonobuoy 11. In the middle of theupper surface 13, there passes a central cavity cup 14 which houses thehydrophones and depth selection mechanism (not shown in the drawings).The central cavity cup 14 is sealed from external moisture by an O ringseal 16.

Directly above the upper surface 13 (shown removed from the upper shell12) is a stabilizing cap 17 which has thereon a plurality of stabilizingribs 18 which function to provide a direction stabilizing force on thebuoy as it passes through the ocean after water impact. In the center ofthe stabilizing cap 17 is a downwardly projecting central portion 19which has a central cap bore 2-1 which permits the passage therethroughof a collet screw 23, which has at its lower end, a threaded portion 25.At the 'base of the downwardly projecting central portion 19 is a maledrive element 22' which takes the form of a down wardly projecting tang.The central cavity cup 14 has a raised central portion 24 which has anopening 26 centrally located therein. Located within the opening 26 is asplit cone-shaped collet drive member 27 which has in its upper surfacea grooved opening 28, which ultimately will receive the male driveelement 22 of the downwardly projecting central portion 19 of thestabilizing cap 17- The split cone-shaped collet drive member has atransverse split 29 that passes entirely through the collet 27. Thistransverse split 29 divides the split collet drive member into twoseparate pieces. 1

Passing through the very center of the split collet drive member is aninternally threaded bore whose function is to cooperate with the thread25 of the collet screw 23. At the base of the split collet drive member27 is a final drive element 32 which is designed to cooperate with adrive slot 46 and a depth selection mechanism 44 depicted separated andbelow the split collet drive member 27 in FIG. 1. Two different depthselection mechanisms that may be utilized in a sonobuoy of this type arefully described in copending applications of Everett W. Farmer, filedMarch 26, 1964, Serial No. 354,945, and Proctor et al., filed March 26,1964, Serial No. 354,985. The split collet drive member 27 fits in amating relationship in a tapered cone-shaped inner surface 34 of acylindrical housing 33. Within the cylindrical housing 33, there is acompressing spring 36 which provides a constant downward force on thecylindrical housing 33 which exerts a force tending to free thecone-shaped inner surface 34 from the split coneshaped collet drivemember 27.

The split collet drive member 27 while illustrated as fitting in africtional mating relationship within said tapered cone-shaped cylinder33 for rotation, may be keyed to said cylinder 33 (in a manner notshown) to thereby cause the cylinder to rotate with the split colletdrive member 27.

With reference to FIG. 1a, there is seen illustrated therein a sphericalsonobuoy 11 floating on the Water 10 after water impact and a momentafter the release of its contents. The antenna erection spring 41 andcoiled antenna 42 are illustrated as flipping and ejecting the cap 17free from the upper shell 12 of the spherical sonobuoy and suspendedbelow by a suspension cable 64 is the depth selection mechanism 44 and ahydrophone 62 which is in turn connected to a weight 63. Floating off tothe left towards the bottom of the ocean is a bottom release cap 61which has released from the bottom of the spherical buoy 11 upon waterimpact to permit the hydrophone 62 and related mechanism to pass intothe depths of the water.

Now that the details of construction of the separable drive train havebeen set forth, reference is made to FIGS. 2 and 3 to explain thefunctional coaction of the above described parts in a normal situationwhen there has been an air launching of the sonobuoy with the resultingwater impact that has produced the release of the hydrophone 62 andrelated equipment from the central cavity cup 14 of the buoy 11 afterwater impact.

Referring specifically to FIG. 3, there is shown schematically a portionof the stabilizing cap 17 through which passes the collet screw 23downwardly into a threading engagement with the threaded bore 31 of thecone-shaped split collet 27.

In FIG. 2 there has been schematically depicted a spring force 52 whichspring force is representative of the spring force that is constantlypresent on the stabilizing cap 17 by the antenna erection spring 41which, prior to assembling, has been pressed down upon the upper surface13 of the spherical sonobuoy 11.

There is also illustrated a spring force 51'which acts in a downwardlydirection and is representative of the spring force presented by spring36.

In FIG. 2 this spring force 51 is shown in a restricted position, thatis to say, the internal mechanisms of the central cavity cup 14 have notbeen permitted to travel downwardly through the cylindrical housing 33.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3 where there is schematically illustratedthe separable drive train in areleased condition which is typical of thedrive train release an instant after water impact by the sphere shapedbuoy 11, as shown in FIG. 1a and the resulting release of theaforementioned hydrophone 62 and related equipment through the bottom ofthe sonobuoy 11.

As soon as the depth selection mechanism 44, which determines the depthsto which the hydrophone w-ill descend, has dropped free from the finaldrive element 32 of the cone-shaped collet drive member 27, the springforce 51 drives the cylindrical housing 33 and its integrally associatedtapered cone-shaped inner surface 34 downwardly and away from the splitcone shaped collet 27. In so doing, there is no longer provided anymeans to keep the split collet in close association with the threadedportion of the collet screw 23, and, therefore, since there is no longerany structure to hold the split collet against the threaded portion 25,the collet which is pulled upwardly via the interaction of the threadedportion 25 of the collet screw 23 upon the threaded portion 31 of thecollet 27, by the antenna spring force 52, falls apart. The cap 17 islifted free of the buoy 11 and the antenna 42 springs into an erectedposition ready for the transmission of information being detected by thehydrophone that has been released.

It is therefore seen that there has been provided a separable'drivetrain which also has the capacity to transmit rotary motion. Forexample, when the cap 17 is rotated clockgwise orcounterclockwise, thisrotary motion is transmitted directly to the male drive element 22 whichin turn is integrally mated with the grooved opening 28 of the splitcone-shaped collet drive member 27. This rotary motion is likewisetransmitted to a depth selection mechanism via the coaction of the finaldrive element 32 with the drive slot 46 of the depth selection mechanism44.

While there has been hereinbefore described what are at presentconsidered preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be apparentthat many and various changes and modifications may be made with respectto the embodiment illustrated, without departing from the spirit of theinventi n, It will be understood that all changes and modifications asfall fairly within the scope of the present invention, as defined in theappended claims, are to be considered as part of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A cap release and depth selection separable drive train for a sphereshaped sonobuoys depth selection mechanism comprised of:

(A) an antenna ejected sonobuoy cap having a male drive element integraltherewith, i

(B) a cone-shaped collet drive member with a centrally located splittherein having a threaded opening therethrough, said threaded openingbeing coextensive with the central axis of said split collet,

(C) said split collet drive member being so split as to have one half ofsaid threaded opening on each side of the split collet,

(D) a spring biased cylinder having a tapered coneshaped inner surfacewhich matches the cone-shaped split collet, and in 'which said splitcollet is mounted,

(E) said split collet having a grooved opening therein to receive saidcaps male drive element, and

(F) a threaded screw member passing through said cap and into said splitcollets threaded opening to thereby drivingly interconnect said cap andsaid split collet.

2. 'In the combination defined in claim 1, said coneshaped collet havinga final drive element at an end remote from said grooved opening toprovide a final drive connection to a depth selection mechanism wherebya rotary motion imparted to said cap is translated through said splitcollet to a final drive element.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 wherein said cylinder is springbiased away from said cone-shaped split collet to thereby permit saidcap and said threaded screw member to be freed from said drive train ina predetermined time when said split collet has separated after beingurged away from said spring biased cone-shaped cylinder.

4. A separable drive train for a releasable depth selection mechanism,

(A) a control cap movable between a first and second setting,

(B) a tapered split drive member having a drive connection to saidcontrol cap, and having an opening therethrough coextensive with thecentral axis of said tapered split drive member,

(C) said tapered split drive member being so split as to have one-halfof said opening on each side of said tapered split drive member,

(D) a cylinder having a tapered inner surface which matches the taperedsplit drive member and in which said tapered split drive member ismounted,

(E) a member passing through said control cap and mechanicallycooperating with said tapered split drive members opening to maintainsaid control cap secure to said tapered split drive member whereby whensaid control cap is moved to said first and said second settings saiddrive member is moved to a corresponding first and second position.

5. The combination set forth in said claim 4 wherein said tapered splitdrive members opening is threaded.

6. The combination set forth in claim 5 wherein said member that passesthrough said control cap has a threaded portion in a threaded connectionto said threaded opening.

7. The combination set forth in claim 6 wherein said cylinder has aspring bias to spring bias said cylinder away from said tapered splitdrive member to thereby permit said control cap and said threaded screwmember to be freed from said drive train at a predetermined time whensaid tapered split member has separated after being urged away from saidspring biased cylinder.

8. The combination set forth in claim 7 wherein said tapered split drivemember has a final drive element to provide a final drive connection tosaid depth selection mechanism whereby a rotary motion imparted to saidcontrol cap to move said cap to said first and said second settings, istranslated to said depth selection mechanism to said corresponding firstand second positions.

9. The combination set forth in claim 4 wherein said control cap has aplurality of stabilizing fins thereon.

10. The combination set forth in claim 9 wherein said separable drivetrain is mounted within a substantially sphere-shaped housing and saidfinned control cap has a curved configuration so that when said finnedcontrol cap is in place on said housing the resulting physicalconfiguration is that of a sphere.

6 11. The combination set forth in claim 10 wherein there is aself-erecting antenna mounted on said substan' tially sphere-shapedhousing between said cap and said housing,

5 (A) said self-erecting antenna cooperating with said control cap toeject said cap at a predetermined time when said separable drive trainseparates.

No references cited.

10 CHESTER L. JUSTUS, Primary Examiner.

R. A. FARLEY, Assistant Examiner.

4. A SEPARABLE DRIVE TRAIN FOR A RELEASABLE DEPTH SELECTION MECHANSISM,(A) A CONTROL CAP MOVABLE BETWEEN A FIRST AND SECOND SETTING, (B) ATAPERED SPLIT DRIVE MEMBER HAVING A DRIVE CONNECTION TO SAID CONTROLCAP, AND HAVING AN OPENIG THERETHROUGH COEXTENSIVE WITH THE CENTRAL AXISOF SAID TAPERED SPLIT DRIVE MEMBER, (C) SAID TAPERED SPLIT DRIVE MEMBERBEING SO SPLIT AS TO HAVE ONE-HALF OF SAID OPENING ON EACH SIDE OF SAIDTAPERED SPLIT DRIVE MEMBER, (D) A CYLINDER HAVING A TAPERED INNERSURFACE WHICH